The Fifth Risk March 14, 2019March 13, 2019 But first: Should we take partisanship out of the Supreme Court? And give everyone a roughly equal say in its composition, rather than, as now, as much say to the 600,000 good people of Wyoming as to the 40 million good people of California? One proposal would give each party 5 Justices and have those 10 choose 5 more. This would not require a Constitutional Amendment. Read about it here. And now: Have you read or listened to Michael Lewis’s The Fifth Risk? It builds on Chris Christie’s account of Trump’s reluctance to do any transition planning in case he won (despite its being required by law) — nor even to look at the transition plan (the product of 130 serious people) after he won. It turns out, there are disastrous consequences to being completely — willfully — unprepared. And “you don’t know the half of it” — or at least, I didn’t. Like all Lewis’s books, The Fifth Risk is a page-turner. It’s also his most important yet. Yes, Trump’s gotten you “great health care at a tiny fraction of the cost” and a massive tax cut and a $4,000 raise. And, yes, he serves as a model to your children and a beacon to the world. He’s stood up to Canada and denuclearized North Korea. But much as you love him for all that, he’s ignored enormous risks. For example, would your life be different without electricity? (And then there’s this, from the Union of Concerned Scientists: “Our latest report shows that the Trump administration has interfered with or sidelined science in 80 separate incidents over the past two years, demonstrating a pattern of hostility to facts—and posing a serious threat to public health and the environment.”) Science, schmience. Who’re you gonna trust — this guy? Or “scientists?”